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Period: Jan 1, 1215 to Dec 31, 1215
Magna Carta
Provided a template for documents such as The Declaration of Independence. -
Petition of Right
Laid out the rights of the "common man" in written form. -
Charter of Rhode Island
Granted religious freedom. -
First Dissenter Statute
Connecticut passes the first dissenter statute and allows “full liberty of worship” to Anglicans and Baptists. -
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Virginia’s House of Burgesses passes the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The Virginia Declaration is the first bill of rights to be included in a state constitution in America. -
Eighteen Baptists jailed
Eighteen Baptists are jailed because of the fact that they refused to pay taxes to the Congressional Church. -
Northwest Ordinance
Congress passes the Northwest Ordinance. Though primarily a law establishing government guidelines for colonization of new territory, it also provides that “religion, morality and knowledge being necessary also to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” The U.S. Constitution is adopted into law on Sept. 17 by the Federal Constitutional Convention and later ratified by the states on June 21, 1788. -
Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 expires
Congress lets the Sedition Act of 1798 expire, and President Thomas Jefferson pardons all person convicted under the Act. The act had punished those who uttered or published “false, scandalous, and malicious” writings against the government. -
"On Liberty" is published
John Stuart Mill publishes the essay “On Liberty.” The essay expands John Milton’s argument that if speech is free and the search for knowledge unfettered, then eventually the truth will rise to the surface. -
The 14th Amendment is ratified
The amendment, in part, requires that no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” -
Scopes Monkey Trial
The “Scopes Monkey Trial” occurs in Dayton, Tenn. School-teacher John Thomas Scopes is found guilty of violating a Tennessee law which prohibits teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. The case pits famed orator William Jennings Bryan against defense attorney Clarence Darrow. -
Texas V. Johnson
In Texas v. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that burning the American flag is a constitutionally protected form of free speech.
